Take Five Beginners Intro Series : part 7Standing Forward Fold moving into High Lunge

Standing Forward FoldSanskrit name: UttanasanaPosture categories: Standing pose. Inversion. Forward fold.Standing Forward Fold is a key pose in the dynamic flow of the Sun Salutation. It's often practiced statically in between other standing postures for rest and restoration. It offers a rich stretch through the back body, lengthening the muscles of the hamstrings and the spine.

Standing Forward Fold - step by step

Come into Mountain Pose at the top of your mat. Stand for a moment, as tall as you are. The feet are parallel, a hips distance apart. The legs are straight. There’s a little lift of the kneecaps, a lift through the lower belly, a lift through the sternum and the crown. Roll the shoulders gently back.

When we start to move into a forward fold, we don’t want to bend at the waist and round the back. We want to hinge at the hips. You can press the thumbs or the little fingers in the crease of the hips to help you get the idea. Really focus on hinging at the hip joint.

If your lower back is little tight or the back of your legs are a little tight, it's harder to hinge at the hips. To make it easier, and create a little more give, you can bend the knees. Choose what’s most appropriate in your body - having the knees bent or knees straight.

Keep the spine extending and lengthening neutrally. And slowly start to slide the hands down the legs. Come to the place were you first feel the sensation of stretch. Notice what it feels like in the back and the back of the legs. When the stretch eases up, you can slide your hands down a little further to recreate the sensation of stretch - a comfortable challenge. Not too intense. So you could slide your hands to the shins, the ankles or the ground.

Once you've folded as far as you comfortably can with the spine extending straight, then you can round the spine and release the crown of the head towards the floor.

At this point you can bring your hands to the floor. If you can’t quite reach, you can bend your knees as much as you need to, to touch the fingertips to the floor.

Hold your Standing Forward Fold for five long slow deep breaths ( or about a minute or so.) Listen to the sensations it ignites. Explore making your own sensitive adjustments to refine your posture. Seek to create stability and ease. Deepen your stretch a little further with each exhale, if you'd like.

To come out of the pose, bend the knees. Check the feet are parallel. And the knees are as wide apart as the ankles. Take the hands to the hips. Reach the heart forward. Lengthen the spine. Create a flat back. And on an inhale come all the way up to standing and release the arms down to the sides.

Practice Points

​​You can bend the knees as much as you need to, to touch the fingers to the ground

Keep the feet parallel and a few centimetres apart. If your knees are bent keep them the same distance apart as the ankles ~ don’t let them roll in

Benefits

Standing Forward Fold​

Stretches and releases the whole back side of the body, especially the hamstrings, buttocks and lower back

Lengthens and releases tension in the spine

Massages the internal organs

Reduces the heart rate

Calming and soothing to the mind

Variations

Standing Forward Fold​​

If the fingers don’t reach the ground you can place your hands on your thighs, shins or on yoga blocks so the stretch is not too intense anywhere

Once you're in the fold, you can choose to clasp your forearms beneath your head and hang from the hips.

Once the spine is safely aligned, with the sacrum at the highest point, you can choose to be passive and let gravity have you. Or you can actively stretch the hamstrings by straightening the knees and drawing the chest towards the legs. Or actively lengthen the spine by drawing the sternum and the crown towards the feet and the shoulder blades down the back.

Caution

​If your hamstrings are a little tight and you find yourself rounding at the waist instead of hingeing at the hips, bend the knees. This helps prevents strain in the lower back.

If you bend at the knees, don't allow them to drop in towards each other. Keep the knees the same distance apart as the ankles. This helps prevent strain in the knee joints.

Increases flexibility in the quadriceps of the back leg and the hamstring muscles of the front leg

Stretches the hip flexor muscles deep in the pelvis, countering the effect of sitting for long periods.

Prepares the body for other standing postures such as Warrior I and Warrior II

Cautions

Mis-alignment of the knee in this pose can create a strain in the joint.So to protect your knee...

Keep the front shin at a 90 degree angle to the ground

Keep the knee directly above the ankle and pointing towards the second and third toe

Align the hip joint directly behind the knee and ankle. So if the hip joint is wandering out to the little-toe side, see if you can tuck it back in line behind the knee.

Step by Step

From Standing Forward Fold, bend the knees and step the right foot way back. Take a big step back for the High Lunge.

You can be up on fingertips. Or up on the knuckles. If you have yoga blocks you can also bring the hands onto blocks, to give yourself a little more height to work with if that feels better in your body.

You want the left knee to be directly over the left ankle so you have a perpendicular shin. And the knee points forward, towards the middle toes. So everything is lined up nicely.

Your back leg is straight. So lift the back of the right knee up towards the ceiling.

If it's available to you, you can sink your hips down to the ground a little bit more. And maybe extend the spine forward.

Then shift the weight forward and back on the soles of the feet to get a little momentum and step the back foot forward. And the left leg way back. Take a lot of space in between the feet. You're up on the ball of the back foot. Toes point straight forward. Knees point straight forward. You're up on fingertips or knuckles or your blocks.

Work towards making the back leg straight.

If it's not too intense, you can maybe sink down through the hips a little. And maybe extend the spine forward.

Then shift the weight forward and back on the soles of the feet to get a little momentum and step the back foot forward, returning to Standing Forward Fold.

Take the hands to the hips, bend the knees and come up through a flat back.​

Key points

Keep your front knee directly above the ankle.

Keep the hip joint in the bent leg directly behind the knee. So the ankle, knee and hip are all aligned on the same track.

Press forward through the front knee cap as you push back through the back heel.

Sink the pelvis down to the ground to deepen your stretch.

Lengthen the spine : reach forward through the sternum as you draw the shoulder blades down the back.

Use the breath to stay centered and light as you work in your pose.

Hold the head in a neutral position, gazing forward or down.

Modifications

If you'd like to give yourself more space in the region of the chest and belly, you can place your hands on yoga blocks on either side of the ankle

If straightening the back knee presents a problem, you can choose to lower the back knee to the ground instead (coming into the Low Lunge variation.) Try to come to rest just above the knee, rather than bang on the knee cap. You may need to inch the knee back a little to achieve this. If you feel discomfort in the knee in the Low Lunge, you can place some padding beneath the knee ( a yoga blanket or folded flannel or eye pillow will do the trick.)

Deepening the challenge

Hold your High Lunge for longer to deepen the challenge.

Actively hug the muscles of the legs and arms in to the bone and keep drawing the navel in and up towards the spine to engage the core.

Move from this foundation posture into Crescent Lunge (knee raised) or Monkey Pose (knee lowered) by raising the upper body to a vertical position and taking the arms up overhead.

How was your Standing Forward Fold and High Lunge?Please review this guide? Did it work for you? How could it be improved? It's always great to hear from you. And I respond to every post. ​​Enjoy your yoga! Fx